Beaujolais Cru Night

Our Beaujolais group recently met again in order to taste through some younger and older bottles, try some new producers, try the most recent vintage of well-known producers, etc. As usual, we picked one white from the Mâconnais to get started and then everyone could pick one wine from a pre-selection made by our host. As two bottles were flawed, we opened one additional bottle. We weren't super lucky with the bottles we had with just two wines being really good, but that's life.

• 2005 Domaine Roger Luquet Pouilly-Fuissé Terroir 87 Points

  France, Burgundy, Mâconnais, Pouilly-Fuissé

  Golden yellow. In the nose, green and yellow fruit, white flowers, honey, quite opulent. Almost sweet in the mouth at first, a bit of alcohol, ripe yellow apple and a bit of green apple candy, a bit diluted in the middle and quite forceful in the finish. Really quite good, well aged as well, but ultimately lacking the finesse and balance to be great.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

• 2013 Georges Descombes Fleurie Vieilles Vignes 93 Points

  France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Fleurie

  Dark crimson red. In the nose, this is very fragrant with smashed raspberries, black cherry, floral notes, this is super pure and clear and already quite complex. In the mouth, it's juicy, mouth filling, dense, but ultimately light, silky despite a certain tannic backbone. Violet and licorice notes in the very long finish that also shows some agreeable bitter notes. An excellent Fleurie which combines substance and lightness.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

• 2013 Clos de Mez Fleurie La Dot

  France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Fleurie

  Don't know what went wrong here. Dark and dense cherry red. In the nose, this stinks of reduction and sulphur, this stink doesn't go away with air either, horse sweat and rotten eggs, just a tiny bit of fruit behind it. In the mouth, this has rough and hard tannins, aggressive acidity and seems empty in the middle. Maybe this was a bad bottle, but I'm not sure.

  Post a Comment / 1 person found this helpful, do you? Yes - No / Report Issue

• 2013 Clos de Mez Morgon Chateau Gaillard 82 Points

  France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Morgon

  Dark cherry red. In the nose, there is a lot of reduction and sulphur, sweaty notes and quite some funk. A bit of black cherry underneath this layer of sulphur. In the mouth, it starts out quite juicy, but then there is an unpenetrable wall of tannin, it seems overextracted, the tannin is hard and tough and not fine grained. It's hard and edgy and mouth-drying and furry in the finish. This really seems way overextracted and is not much fun.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

• 2011 Domaine des Souchons Morgon Cuvée Claude Pillet Flawed

  France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Morgon

  We sniffed and swirled and tasted and - after a while - we came to the conclusion that this is corked.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

• 2015 Jean-Louis Dutraive (Domaine de la Grand'Cour) Fleurie Champagne Cuvée Vieilles Vignes 88 Points

  France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Fleurie

  Purplish red. In the nose, this is fragrant, there's raspberry jam, floral notes, some licorice. It's almost as good as other vintages of this wine, but when it gets a little warmer, there's a LOT of alcohol. In the mouth, this has a good texture, but it's quite voluminous, not as light-bodied as other vintages of this wine, the alcohol is quite noticable, there's decently fresh acidity, but just way too much alcohol and glycerine in the finish. This is a pity, I usually love this wine, but the 2015 can't hide its 14.5% Vol. alcohol.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

• 2005 Paul Janin et Fils Moulin-à-Vent Clos du Tremblay 91 Points

  France, Burgundy, Beaujolais, Moulin-à-Vent

  Cherry red. In the nose, this is quite reserved and strict, quite classic. There's black cherry, some cassis, slightly powdery fruit, oriental spices. Very elegant. In the mouth, this is velvety despite being a bit strict and almost austere again, cherry fruit, good juiciness, great spiciness in the long finish, which also has some meaty notes. Classic Moulin-à-Vent, still young, really well-crafted.

  Post a Comment / Do you find this review helpful? Yes - No / Report Issue

The two Clos de MEZ wines were extremely disappointing. The Fleurie still suffered from a lot of reduction, but underneath the reduction it didn't seem like a great wine either. The Morgon seemed overextracted with extremely hard tannins and not enough fruit to see the wine living through the period of time needed to tame the tannins. The Dutraive was also a bit disappointing as it didn't have the airiness it had in past vintages and seemed too heavily influenced by its high alcohol. I really liked the Descombes Fleurie VV and the Janin Clos du Tremblay showed as good as it did in the past. A classic Moulin-à-Vent.